Isis 2 Documentation
ISIS Distribution and Support Policies
- ISIS Distribution: The ISIS system is freely distributed
to the NASA science community and other interested users. The ISIS
distribution contains the necessary binary executable modules, user
documentation, and ancillary data necessary to perform spectral processing and
radiometric, geometric, photometric, and cartographic image processing in
support of NASA flight projects including Viking, Voyager, Magellan,
Galileo/NIMS, Galileo/SSI, Cassini, Clementine, Imager for Mars Pathfinder,
Lunar Orbiter, Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mars Express, Mars Global Surveyor
(MGS) and THEMIS. The ISIS distribution also contains the ISIS source code and
information on writing your own specialized ISIS applications.
- ISIS Support Categories:
- Fully Supported Institutions: Investigator institutions directly
involved with NASA programs that fund the development and maintenance of the
ISIS system (such as Galileo/NIMS, Clementine) are "fully" supported.
Fully supported institutions will receive 1) ISIS distribution updates, 2)
ISIS installation assistance, 3) user assistance, 4) timely action on bug
reports, and 5) limited programmer assistance (perhaps including programmer
workshops) . It is essential that the cognizant USGS/PI (USGS individual
directly responsible to the NASA program that funds ISIS development) identify
those institutions to receive full ISIS support.
- Unsupported Institutions: Science community members not directly
involved with NASA programs that fund ISIS are supported on a "best
effort" basis. Support is provided within a narrow scope of USGS budget
constraints and programmer resources. Any use of ISIS by unsupported
institutions is done so at their own risk. Unsupported users will receive ISIS
distribution updates and they are encouraged to report bugs and problems with
the ISIS system. However, timely response to bug reports and responses to
other support questions may not be possible.
For more information on ISIS support, see the
Policy on Support for External ISIS Users, which describes support
for users who are using the distributed ISIS software and the
Policy on ISIS Programming, which describes
support for users who are writing their own specialized ISIS applications.
- User Registration: It is no longer necessary to register to
receive the ISIS system. However, it is recommended that you register for ISIS
support at the Isis Support Center (URL: http://isis.astrogeology.usgs.gov/IsisSupport/).
Registered users will be periodically informed of system updates and changes to
the system.
- System Requirements: ISIS has been developed and tested to
operate under specific hardware and operating system environments. User
support can be provided only to those institutions that have the same hardware
systems with identical operating systems (including specific operating system
version or higher) and development tools such as IDL. For those who desire to
write their own ISIS application programs, identical compilers and program
development tools must be used in ISIS development activities at their
institutions. Every attempt will be made to adapt ISIS to a higher version of
an operating system, but no guarantee can be made that ISIS will operate on
systems other than the versions supported by the USGS group.
- Hardware Requirements: ISIS is a very powerful and complicated
system requiring significant computer resources. A minimum hardware
configuration is required in order to properly operate ISIS. User support can
be provided only to those institution that maintain computer systems that meet
the minimum hardware requirements.
- Major Releases and Intermediate Updates: ISIS software updates
are available via"rsync". "rsync" is a file transport tool that is similar to
both "ftp" and "rcp". For information and instructions on the use of "rsync"
to acquire or update ISIS see:
Major releases constitute fundemental overhauls of the ISIS system.
Intermediate software updates provide a rapid response to time critical
operations such as might occur during an active flight project.
- Distribution Installation Options: ISIS is distributed in parts
so that users can tailor the system for their unique processing requirements.
Ancillary data files within ISIS, such as SPICE kernels and calibration files,
are very large and require significant magnetic disk storage. The ISIS system
is distributed in such a way as to allow the user to load only the ancillary
data files that are relevant to their investigations. The parts of the ISIS
distribution include: 1) executable modules, system modules of the ISIS system,
the Transportable Applications Executive user interface system, and the
required data files (Base Kit); 2) ancillary data files for each mission
(Mission specific Kits); and 3) software source code (Dev kit).
Last updated: Aug 26 2004
File: dist_policy.html
Contact us online at the Isis Support Center: http://isisdist.wr.usgs.gov
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